From September 4th to September 26th, 2024, the Institute for International and Area Studies (hereinafter referred to as IIAS) at Tsinghua University invited Lúcio Rennó, Dean of the Graduate School and Tenured Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Brasilia, to give a series of lectures on the topic “Comparative Political Behavior: Elections in Latin America”. The lectures consisted of eight sessions, with the themes being “Latin American Voters and Electoral Theory”, “Latin America's Demographic Situation and Voting: How Representation work”?, ‘Wealth and class: the impact of class asymmetry on voting’? ,‘Social cleavages: the role of religion, gender and race in elections’?, ‘Issue voting: how important is people's perception of politics’? ,‘Issue voting and the conservative shift: Brazilian voters supporting Bolsonaro’?, ‘Parties: political party identity in a weak party system’? and ‘Incumbent performance: the decisive role of government evaluation in voting’. The lecture series was hosted by Zhou Yan, Assistant Professor at IIAS. More than 100 people attended, including teachers and students from IIAS, as well as scholars and students from universities at home and abroad.
Professor Lúcio began by discussing the profile of Latin American voters, pointing out that elections are a hallmark of Latin American politics. He then explored the applicability of the Michigan School of Political Psychology, the Colombian School of Sociology, and the economic voting theory in Latin America. The second lecture then focused on issues such as: “How do the personal characteristics of Latin American voters affect elections?” and “How does social division in Latin America affect elections?” ,etc. The third lecture focused on the impact of class asymmetry on voting. The fourth lecture explored how these factors that cause a certain degree of division in society specifically affect elections in Latin American countries from the perspectives of religion, gender, and race. In the fifth lecture, entitled “Issue Voting: How Important Are People's Political Views?”, Professor Lúcio emphasized the need to pay attention to the substantive propositions expressed by political parties and candidates, and emphasized the representativeness based on the candidates' views. In the sixth lecture, Professor Lúcio introduced the current trend of the far-right conservatism represented by Bolsonarism in Brazil. The seventh and eighth lectures respectively focused on political party identities and government evaluation in Latin American countries, completing the overview of Latin American elections.
During the Q&A session of this lecture series,Professor Lúcio and the audience had a lively discussion on topics related to the content of the lecture, Latin American government's policies, voter's electoral behavior and the current social situations in the region.
Lúcio Rennó is the Dean of the Graduate School and a tenured associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Brasilia. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of Pittsburgh and a BA and MA in political science from the University of Brasilia. From 2004 to 2005, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. From 2009 to 2010, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies as a postdoctoral researcher; from 2005 to 2006, he taught at the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Arizona; from October 2014 to February 2015, he worked on Brazilian studies at the Latin American Institute of the Free University of Berlin; from 2015 to 2018, he served as president of the Planning Company of the Federal District of Brazil (Codeplan). His research focuses on comparative politics, legislative studies and electoral behavior. He is the author of several books, including “Coletânea de Políticas Públicas de Cultura: Práticas e Reflexões” (Collection of Public Cultural Policies: Practices and Reflections), and has published academic papers in various journals, such as Latin American Politics And Society, Journal of Latin American Studies, American Journal of Political Science, and The Journal of Politics. Some of his publications include “Social Context and Campaign Volatility in New Democracies: Networks and Neighborhoods in Brazil's 2002 Elections” and “Brazil's Successful Re-election Strategy: Different Institutional Incentives”. : Networks and Neighborhoods in Brazil's 2002 Elections, Successful re-election strategies in Brazil: the electoral impact of distinct institutional incentives, etc.
Text editor: Latin America and the Caribbean Studies research group
Proofreader: Latin America and the Caribbean Studies research group
